Test of flagship schemes on Jan 1

The government’s ambitious direct cash transfer (DCT) scheme on subsidies is to be tested right in the first phase, from January 1, on some of its flagship programmes. Selected districts are to see, from January 1, a phased roll-out of the DCT. These are to be the site for testing on 29 of the government’s 42 programmes for subsidy transfer in the first phase.

The rural job guarantee law, operationalised as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), is to be one. So would the Indira Awas Yojana, the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowships and the Dhanalaxmi scheme for the girl child, among others.

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The full list of 29 programmes for putting on the Aadhaar platform on a pilot basis hasn’t been issued yet. Of the 42 schemes identified, 14 are of the ministry of social justice and empowerment.

As many as 22 relate to distribution of scholarships to different sections of society. Other ministries whose schemes have been judged suitable for DCT are human resource development, tribal affairs, minority affairs, women and child development, health and family welfare, rural development, labour and employment, petroleum and natural gas, chemicals and fertilisers, and food and public distribution.

The department of posts, with its 27 million bank accounts, of which 15 million are zero-balance ones, will form an integral part of the scheme. For the MGNREGS, officials said wherever an Aadhaar platform isn’t available, job card numbers could be used for cash transfer.

At a later stage, the cash transfer could be seeded with Aadhaar. The mid-day meal scheme isn’t being considered now for DCT but related ones such as cash for purchase of school uniforms could be rolled out on Aadhaar numbers.

In health, officials said specific components in the Janani Suraksha Yojana, in which beneficiaries are paid through cheques, could also be tried with an Aadhaar-enabled DCT system from next month.

For direct transfer of food subsidy, the department of food and public distribution will roll-out the scheme in six Union Territories and states, from April 1. These include Delhi, Puducherry and Chandigarh.

The Prime Minister’s Office has directed all ministries to prepare a schedule for DCT in the identified districts. It has also asked all departments forming part of the roll-out to designate internal nodal points, to facilitate these.

THE SCHEME OF THINGS Schemes the government believes it can implement for the direct cash transfer programme, including MGNREGA